


I don't know you anymore

by Mouse (clandestineAbattoir)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Abusive Bro, Aromantic John, Asexual Dave, Child Abuse, M/M, Stridercest - Freeform, also they're all traumatized children, bro and dave centric, dave just needs a break ok, rose is a dick
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-04-06 07:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4213557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clandestineAbattoir/pseuds/Mouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave just wants bro to leave him alone. Bro does just the opposite, bit in a different way than Dave ever expected</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Dave cautiously tiptoed through the cluttered apartment, ruby eyes darting back and forth nervously behind dark sunglasses.  
He knew Bro was snoring on the scratchy plaid futon just down the hall. He also knew that if he woke up, all was lost.  
Finally safely making it into the cramped, dimly lit kitchen, he opened the fridge with a small creak and a hushed clinking of glass.  
His breath caught in his throat, and he listened for the uneven, plodding footsteps of his brother, but there was nothing other than his own shaky breath and the hum of the refrigerator.  
Deciding not to waste any more time, Dave quickly grabbed a Tupperware of pasta and a bottle of Apple juice and scurried back to his room, letting out a relieved sigh once the lock softly click into place.  
Just as the flimsy plywood door closed, the clumsy footsteps of a drunk Bro echoed down the hallway, getting increasingly louder as he got closer.  
Dave scampered under his bead, his skeletal frame shaking in terror. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists, praying to every god he could think of that Bro would just stumble past your room and ignore him.  
Of course, he has no such luck.  
Bro starts pounding on the glossy door, yelling threateningly. He wasnt stupid enough to open the door, so it was a half hour before Bro finally managed to kick it down. And when he did, all hell broke loose.


	2. Apologies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bro is actually sober. For onc

"Please don't hurt me!" Dave shouted, cowering under the bed.  
"What do you mean, lil' man?"   
Dave was confused.  
That wasn't Bro's voice.  
Well, it was Bro's voice, but it wasn't slurred at mean and tinged with alcohol.  
Dave slowly crawled out from under the bed, hands still shaking.  
"Not drunk?" He asked, eyes wide and looking up at the older through dark shades.  
"Killer hangover, but not drunk," Bro confirmed, adjusting his pointed shades, before asking "why do you ask?"  
"No reason," Dave said quickly.   
The Strider boy knew from experience that pointing out the abuse never ended well.  
"Ok. Whatever you say dude. Hey can I ask you a question?"  
"Go ahead," the blonde consented.  
"How bad did I get when I was drunk?"  
Dave froze. How could he answer that? How could he tell Bro that he was a monster when he was drunk?  
"That bad huh?" Bro responded for him.  
All Dave did was nod.  
Bro reached over to pat Dave on the back, and the younger strider jerked away so violently that it made Bro himself flinch.  
"Ok... No touching then. That- that's cool."   
"Sorry," Dave apologized, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.  
"No its my fault, I'm the one who constantly got drunk off my ass and did this to you," Bro apologized back, " How about I make some Mac and cheese. Y'know, small apology, I'll get there."  
"I'd like that."


	3. Getting there

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's one am give me a break if this is shitty

"Here you go," Bri said, setting down the poorly made Mac and cheese down in front of Dave.   
Dave ate the food almost is seconds. He didn't realize how hungry he was, surviving on meager left overs and apple juice.  
"Damn. You can eat, kid," the older Strider said, chuckling breathily.  
The sound of Bro's laugh made Dave smile inside. He hadn't heard it in years, and it somehow made him happy to see Bro crack a smile for once.  
He didn't really know why. His only good memories of bro were from where he was a little kid, before he had lost his job and fallen into a depressed stupor that he mumbled with alcohol.  
Sure, he had found another job, but it just wasn't the same.   
DJing was Bro's dream job, and it had been unceremoniously stripped from him, leaving a permanent scar across his very soul.  
No more would there be going to the club with bro and watching him get lost on the music that filled the air.  
No more would there be a container of ice cream hidden among the groceries for him to find later, watching a small smile grace itself across Bro's features as the young Dave's eyes lit up and his smile threatened to break apart his little cheeks.  
Well, at least, that's what dave had assumed. But as he sat here with Bro, eating shitty macaroni, he thought that maybe, just maybe, things could change.


	4. In which Dave reizes that maybe he doesn't hate morning as much as he thought he did

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, kinda forgot about this.

As morning cane the next day, Dave groaned as bright Houston light filtered through the blinds.   
"Fuck... What time is it?" He mumbled,  grabbing blindly for his phone. It was past noon.   
"Well thats just great. I'm late for school again," he mumbled, kicking the sheets off of him.  
"Nah, I called the school and told them you were sick," Bro said from the doorway, "family time today."  
Dave was slightly intimidated by the prospect of spending a while day with Bro, even if he was sober.   
The older strider moved to pay his shoulder, but pulled his hand back when the shorter blonde flinched.   
"No touching, right. Ok," he said, shoving his gloved hand in his pocket.  
Both strider's stared at each other for a few moments, neither breaking the poker face that had been mastered through years of practice and endless hours spent looking in the mirror, perfecting the perfect tight lipped line of cold, uncaring irony.  
Dave was the one to be so bold to break the scared stider silence.  
"So... Breakfast? Well, lunch actually," he inquired.  
"You want some pancakes?"  
"Sound good."  
With that, the elder Strider went to the kitchen to microwave some crappy frozen pancakes as Dave got dressed.  
After he deemed his outfit semi decent (it was the same one as always, Dave just liked to pretend he put actual effort into his clothing), he went into the cramped kitchen where Bro for once was not making shitty eggos, but he had actually created off the stove of smuppets and crappy katanas and was actually making real pancakes.  
"I didn't know the stove still worked," Dave commented offhandedly as he grabbed a bottle of apple juice from the fridge, dodging the clamour of shitty swords that came out of the fridge, "remind me again why we keep swords in the fridge."  
Bro shrugged, flipping a pancake.  
"I dunno dude, same reason we have swords on the stove, I suppose."  
"And what would that be?"  
"Were both lazy assholes who don't really wanna move them anywhere else."  
"Touche," Dave nodded.  
Bro finished the batch of pancakes and stacked them on a plate and handed it to Dave. The smaer of the two then proceeded to smother them in syrup.  
"I think there might be Dorito dust in the maple syrup," he observed, blinking at the orange flecks in the sticky brown syrup.  
"Why does this not surprise me?" Bro mumbled, adjusting his hat. The two of them laughed, and Dave finally felt like he had his cool older brother back.


	5. I'm not sure what to title this

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strider shenanigans!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM NOT DEAD!!! IM SORRY!!!

Throughout the day, Dave's general quality of life improved in leaps and bounds.   
The first thing that bro did was take Dave to the old record store that he used to go to all the time when he was younger.  
It was the same as he remembered it. It was dimly lit, dust particles were visible floating in the air in the beams of sunlight streaming in through the clouded old windows, shining onto the stained pink carpeting  
Dave breathed in the scent of old paper and dried rosemary that lingered in the air.   
"I missed this place," he commented softly, almost wistfully, as he browsed through the vinyls in their waterlogged sleeves.  
The older strider nodded in a quiet manner.  
The old navajo man behind the counter waved at the two.  
Dave took a random record off the shelf.   
Escape the Fate  
Escape the Fate  
He vaguely remembered Bro liking this particular album when he was younger. He had a few spare bucks. The album was $20 he had $25. Perfect.  
He walked up to the register, paying for the record and slipping it into a paper bag to give to be later. This was gonna be epic.

Later, Bro bought them both fucking ice cream. From baskin  fucking Robin's. This was the life man. He got two scoops of cookie dough, and he laughed as Bro's coffee ice cream dribbled down the chin of the older man. Wow. Laughing. That was a thing he could do. He almost forgot about that.

When the two got home, Bro grabbed a beer out of the fridge, and Dave looked at him, a little intimidated. When Bro saw the expression on his face, he put the beer back, though Dave caught his staring longingly at it throughout the night. 

But he provided an ample distraction from that by busting out the Mario kart. The most epic Mario kart battle in the history of mankind then took place. 

Four games and a noise complaint from the neighbors later, Dave lay sprawled out on the couch eating Doritos while Bro lay on the floor right in front of the couch, staring up at the ceiling.

"Hey Dave?"

"Yeah Bro."

"Doesn't Christmas just mean Jesus More?"

"....this is why we don't let you stay up."

"Hm?"

"You get really philosophical and gay."

"Dave I'm always fucking gay what are you talking about."

"Ok true."

"What about you Dave? Do you have a booooyfriiiieeend." Bro stretched out the vowels like a snide three year old would.

"Nah man. This shit right here is 1000 time too awesome to be dating material."

"You totally like someone."

"I do not!!!" He exclaimed, throwing a couch pillow at Bro.

Bro laughed, throwing the pillow back. This inevitably caused a pillow fight which distracted from the question of the boyfriend for a few moments.

Eventually though, Bro made Dave go to bed, seeing as it was three am and Dave had school the next day. 

The strider boy fell into bed, clutching a pillow to his chest and falling asleep not terrified for the first time in a long long time.


	6. Field trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daves highschool makes parents volunteer for fieldtrips occasionally

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, sorry for not updating this thing in months

Dave woke up the next morning with a smile on his face. 

Bro greeted him in the kitchen with leftover pancakes (which dave put doritos on top of. Best idea ever.) And the rest of the morning went equally smoothly. He brushed his teeth, put on decent clothes, and bro even drove him the usual mile and a half walk to school.

The drive to school was mildly eventful. Bros taste in music was a bit.... Well, a bit interesting. The radio station change often, but it mainly stayed on college stations that played weird clashes of indi and alternative music that would probably make simon cowell chop his own dick off to distract himself from it. 

When they pulled uo to Daves highschool, he suddenky remembered something. The field trip. He dug the permission slip and handed it bro, simply saying "sign please."

Bro read it over.  
"A trip to the zoo? Totally ironic. Can i come?"

The question sent Dave into a mild state of panic. School was his safe place, the place where he didnt have to see bro and he knew bro was safe now but that didn't help and oh god he was hyperventilating oh fuck oh what was bro gonna thi-

"Dave," bros steady voice cut through daves thoughts as he put a gloved hand on the youngers shoulder, "I wont come if you dont want me too. It was just a suggestion. Deeo breaths, lil' man. Deep breaths. Youre okay. Breathe." 

The smaller blonde was finally able to inhale at a somewhat decent rate after about a minute or two.  
"Sorry bro, its just... School was kinda my safe zone and i dont know if i can handle you there quite yet, you know what im sayin?" he said cautiously.  
Much to his relief, vro nodded understandingly.  
"Yeah, its cool lil man. Heres yer slip. Have fun kiddo," he ushered Dave out of the car like a middle aged soccer mom.  
Dave sighed as he watched the old pickup pull away. He got the feeling that this was going to be a long day.


	7. look im not actually dead holy shit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> field trips and panic attacks because rose is a dick

The bus ride to the zoo was relatively boring. Kids shouting at the tops of their lungs, throwing paper and assorted other objects, much to the dismay of the underpaid teachers. Dave was sitting in the back of the bus, alone save for his thoughts. And he had a lot of thoughts. What the fuck had caused the sudden change in Bros behavior? Was he genuinely sorry, or did he have an ulterior motive. Dave was beyond suspicious. He knew Bro, he had known him his whole life. He wasn't the type of person to make such a quick turnaround. It just wasn’t possible. But Bro had seemed so nice yesterday. It was odd.  
Dave was pulled out of his speculation of the brotherly kind when the bus pulled up to the front of the small zoo, and the chaperones began herding the children out of the bus and into the hot sun. His vague childhood friend, John, already had something sticky on his hands. What the fuck, how? Dave shrugged it off. It honestly didn’t surprise him anymore. John was almost always sticky. Nothing new.  
As he walked, his cousin, Rose, approached him silently.  
“You’re staring again, Dave.”  
Dave damn near jumped out of his skin and the suddenness of Rose’s voice. It took a couple seconds for the boy to process what she said, but he glared at her when he did.  
“Shut up,” he shoved her away, half-playfully.  
He hated when she commented on that. Not only was it embarrassing, but it was frustrating too. Sure, he may have used to have a crush on John, but he was over that shit now. He and John were friends, and he was asexual anyway. After all those years of seeing Bro’s... collection everywhere, he didn’t think he would ever be interested in someone like that. He decided to voice this opinion to his cousin, quietly.  
“Rose, I’m asexual, you know that,” he hissed at her.  
Rose’s black painted lips quirked up at the corner.  
“Ah, but you’re not aromantic,” she countered.  
She... had a point. But he actually didn’t like John.  
“Isn’t John aromantic though?” he asked.  
He thought he remembered John saying something about that at one point. And he respected that, he really did.  
“I... suppose you’re right...” she pursed her lips, pouting, “Damn, and I shipped it so hard,” she said.  
Dave stopped walking, standing there and staring at his cousin, beyond disturbed. She shipped it?  
“Rose, no offense, but that's really fucking creepy,” he said, his stomach turning a bit as he thought about just what that could entail. He knew shippers, he’d read some of rose’s fanfiction before. If it was anything like that, he had every right to be fucking terrified.  
“Oh, its just a bit of hamrless fun, besides, the only reason you and john are the way you are is because of your deep rotted physical and mental traumas,” she said.  
Dave blinked. And blinked again. Had she really just said that? Had he really just heard his cousin say that about him and his best friend with his own two ears? The turning in his stomach had only grown stronger, threatening to turn the contents right out of his stomach. He opened his mouth to say something, but only a choked noise came out that he barely heard through the static in his ears. He just... couldn’t think right now. Everything was blurring and his face was heating up. Why was his face heating up? He had no fucking clue. His mouth was drying quickly and it felt like he was about to choke and oh god he was gonna die right now wasn’t he this was where it all ended for him and--  
A hand on his shoulder grounded him back to coherent thought. A, small sticky hand that Dave knew he knew, who’s hand was that on his shoulder and who’s voice was cutting through the static? His scrambled brain went down the very short list of everyone who knew all that well, and it settle on John. It must be John that’s got his hand on his shoulder. Because John;s hands are sticky and John was close enough to him to be able to put his hand on his shoulder.  
His brain also supplied that maybe he should try breathing now so he didn’t pass out.


End file.
